"The Courage to Care, The Strength to Serve" -- Teacher VideoThis 15 minute video provides an overview of Maryland's service-learning programs. It highlights critical service-learning elements such as: preparation, action and reflection; curriculum infusion; independent service-learning projects. Administrators, teachers, students and community based organization representatives explain why they believe service-learning is an effective teaching tool and community resource.

The Revised Training Toolbox: A Guide to Service-Learning Training (Revised 1998, 209 pages)This book was created to support people designing and conducting trainings on school-based service-learning for teachers. It contains agendas and tips for conducting one and a half-hour, half-day, one-day, and four day training sessions on service-learning. It also contains sections on training teachers and community groups on incorporating special education students into service-learning projects, and on training community agencies to work effectively with student servers. The appendix holds 125 handouts and visuals which can be reproduced for use in trainings.

Maryland's Best Practices: An Improvement Guide for School-Based Service-Learning (1995, 68 pages)This guide for continuous program improvement of classroom level service-learning programs incorporates some of the best thinking on service-learning from experts around the country, as well as from eighty Maryland teachers. The guide includes the seven best practices of school-based service-learning programs. Each best practice is illustrated with approaches and real life examples to provide the framework for quality service-learning. It also includes a self-assessment tool so teachers can evaluate the effectiveness of their own programs.

Next Steps: A School District's Guide to the Essential Elements of Service-Learning (1998, 60 pages)If you want to create or improve service-learning programs on a large scale, Next Steps is designed for you. Next Steps offers the experienced service-learner or program administrator the chance to move service-learning to the next level of quality and consistency. Organized into sections on infrastructure, instruction, and investment, the guide offers options for creating a funding structure for service-learning, teacher training, how to measure the support of your community for service-learning , developing service-learning leaders at the school and district level, etc. All of the indicators and examples are drawn from the experience of Maryland's 24 school districts, and their five years of service-learning program administration.

Service-Learning Leadership Program Information

Maryland's Service-Learning Leadership Handbook, (revised 1999, 11 sections, 380 pages)This handbook is the resource guide to Maryland's unique leadership program which creates local service-learning leaders by training participants in the theory and practice of service-learning; nurturing and enhancing leadership skills, training participants to train others, and providing models of high quality service-learning. Sections 1 through 7 provide general information on service-learning including descriptions of service-learning programs in each school district throughout the state, specific classroom project descriptions, and additional resources in the field. Sections 8, 9, 10 and 11 provide overviews of several strands of Maryland's service-learning leadership program -- administrators, teachers and students.

Project Ideas & Curriculum

Spinning Interdisciplinary Service-Learning Webs: A Secondary Education Approach (2007, 1995, 25 Pages)Eight interdisciplinary "webs" have been assembled for service-learning projects on the following themes: aging, environment, hunger, homelessness & poverty, literacy, poverty, pregnant and parenting teens, prejudice, public safety, and substance abuse. These webs were designed by teachers to help teachers infuse service into their content areas and work in cooperation across disciplines. Easily comprehensible and visually appealing, these webs are user-friendly.

Service-Learning Model Program Replication Guides (1995, 1996, lengths vary)These guides offer day-by-day lesson plans for replicating one of ten model service-learning programs. These model programs are actual programs being implemented by teachers in schools throughout Maryland. They were written by the model program teacher and include materials needed for successfully replicating these exciting projects. Each program adheres to Maryland's seven best practices for school-based service-learning. Replication Guides are available for the following projects:

Service-Learning Elementary School Guide (1992, 210 pages)This instructional guide assists elementary school teachers to engage students in service-learning. Whether you are teaching a service-learning course, infusing service into your subject area curriculum, running a service club or developing a school-wide program, this guide can help you formulate successful projects. This guide is divided into 5 sections: Student Service in Maryland, Outcomes of Service-Learning, Effective Student Service, Building Support for Service-Learning in Your School, Introduction to Student Service, Service Projects.

Service-Learning Middle School Guide (1992, 230 pages)This instructional guide assists middle school teachers to engage students in service-learning. Whether you are teaching a service-learning course, infusing service into your subject area curriculum, running a service club or developing a school-wide program, this guide can help you formulate successful projects. This guide is divided into five sections: Student Service in Maryland, Outcomes of Service-Learning, Effective Student Service, Building Support for Service-Learning in Your School, Introduction to Student Service, Service Projects.

Service-Learning High School Guide (1993, 383 pages)This instructional guide assists high school teachers to engage students in service-learning. Whether you are teaching a service-learning course, infusing service into your subject area curriculum, running a service club or developing a school-wide program, this guide can help you formulate successful projects. The guide is divided into 7 parts: Using This Guide, Service-Learning in Maryland, Outcomes of Service-Learning; Service-Learning Basics, Infusion: Incorporating Service-learning into Your School and Classroom, Building Support for Service-Learning in Your School, Service-Learning Projects -- Building Skills & Getting to Work: Issue Areas (bias, crime, disability, environment, literacy, poverty, senior citizens, substance abuse, teen parenting), Great Books Readings.

Service-Learning Special Education Guide (1993, 282 pages)This instructional guide assists special and regular educators to engage students with disabilities in service-learning. Produced by the Maryland Student Service Alliance working with a team of special educators, the guide includes suggestions for inclusion, evaluation, teaching basic skills, and working with the community. Whether you are teaching a service-learning course, infusing service into your subject area or functional curriculum, running a service club or developing a school-wide program, this guide can help you create successful projects. The guide is divided into 8 parts: Using This Guide, Service-Learning in Maryland, Service-Learning Basics, Service-Learning with Students with Disabilities, Outcomes of Service-Learning; Incorporating Service-learning into Your School and Classroom, Building Support for Service-Learning, Service-Learning Projects.

Service-Learning Units (2007, 15 units)

MSDE offers these service-learning units, which highlight links between projects and the MSC, as resources for use in conjunction with existing local curricula and service-learning implementation plans. The lesson plans featured here give suggested grade levels and content areas. Most of these lessons can be adapted to virtually any grade level or content area. The lessons can be implemented in one content area, or adapted for use as interdisciplinary units. They also can be modified for length and expanded or contracted as needed to fit your circumstances. Feel free to use them as a starting point and modify them to meet your unique needs.

Special Education Service-Learning Units (2009, 14 units)

These units were developed specifically for students in a special education placement. Some of these service-learning units are focused on supporting alt-MSA goals as well as MSC indicators and objectives, because some of these units are designed to be implemented with both students in a special education placement and those in a regular education placement.